There are no reported complaints from any Muslim that they were on streets – with or without any work – and got coloured. They changed the timing of their congregational Jumma Namaz in the Holy month of Ramazan – to accommodate the Hindus observing their festival – and some might have decided to forgo their obligatory prayers.

The Hindu nationalists in Sambhal (UP), and in other BJP ruled states had the streets entirely to themselves till they wanted. Chaupai, a Holi procession passed peacefully through 10 mosques in Sambhal, including the border wall of Shahi Jama Masjid (Pragynesh, 2025). The BJP MLA from Bihar – Haribhushan Thakur Bachol – made a similar appeal on the legislative assembly premises, asking Muslims to stay indoors on the day of Holi (Pandey, 2025). No one from the BJP or their alliance partners in Bihar, including JD(U) condemned the statement.

Hansraj Meena (25) in Dausa (Rajasthan) ventured out and despite his objection, colour was forcibly applied on him. He died after being assaulted by three persons who applied colour on him. Meena should have remained indoors but he ventured out to go to a library to prepare for his state civil service exams. He did not heed the advice of Dy.S.P. Chaudhary (Khan, 2025).

Provocative slogans were raised during Shimga festival on 13th March, 2025, when Madachi Miravnuk, an old Konkani ritual, when tree trunks are carried to the Dhopeshwar temple in Rajapur (Ratnagiri district, Maharashtra) on the eve of Holi. Those carrying the tree trunk rammed into the mosque gate several times while raising provocative slogans (Express News Service, 2025). Muslims staying indoors did not protect this mosque.

UP police had to baton charge the traditional ‘Laat Sahab’ procession in Shahjahanpur district as those participating in the procession threw brickbats on the police, injuring three of them. Trouble started when those playing Holi threw footwears at the police (Rozana Sahafat, 2025). In Unnao (UP), drunk Holi revellers threw brickbats at the police in which three police officers were injured. To control them, police used their batons to disperse them. In the baton charge, many revellers were injured (Rozana Sahafat, 2025). In the traditional Phag procession in Gunj Muradabad village, on 14th March 2025, they were singing objectionable songs. At the conclusion of the procession, some drunk youth started teasing and playing mischief. When police resorted to mild baton charge, they started throwing brickbats at police. At least three police personnel were injured due to the brickbats thrown at them (Rozana Sahafat, 2025). Muslims remaining indoors did not save the police or the drunken brawls resorted by the revelrs.

On 13th March 2025, on the eve of Holi festival, a man in Dombivili, a distant suburb of Mumbai, attacked a 17-year-old boy when a water balloon allegedly thrown by him landed on the man (Press Trust of India, 2025). This man in Dombivili did not heed the advice of the Dy. S.P. of Sambhal resulting in unnecessary conflict.

Does policing and maintaining law and order mean asking law abiding citizens from marginalized communities to remain indoors, while the potential law breakers from more powerful and dominant sections of the society have the freedom to indulge in revelry even in violation of law endangering peace? In the same vein, women are asked to remain indoors if they do not want to be sexually assaulted.

This approach also encourages those who believe in ‘might is right’ doctrine to be law unto themselves. The Dy.S.P. of Sambhal Anuj Kumar Chaudhary is seen in the viral video taking note of the fact that during the Holi festival people consume bhang (cannabis) and therefore mishaps of forcibly applying colours on Muslims might occur. However, he does not warn the consumers of cannabis. Will the police advice Indians who do not want to be killed in a potential road accident to remain indoors on the eve of new year celebrations as the likelihood of drunken driving increases?

Muslims are not the only victims during the Holi festival. Many Hindus do not like to be coloured. Women also are vary of Holi festival as they too are targeted by strangers against their wish on the pretext that everything is permissible during Holi. They say “Bura Na Mano Holi Hai”. The BJP and Hindu nationalists use the occasion to communally polarize people and assert dominance of Hindus. However, the moot question is, shouldn’t we take note of what damage such an approach will do to the Hindu religion and ethics? Not long ago, these festivals were celebrated peacefully with participation of people from all communities. This writer has also enjoyed playing Holi in his school days, and indeed taking part in all other festivals of all religious communities. The unprecedented and massive deployment of police force now necessary since a decade tells its own story. Holi is such a beautiful festival in which one reminds oneself to burn all negative feelings and instincts like acquisitive desires, selfishness, jealousy, fear, hatred into the Holi fire. Mughal emperors too played Holi with their Durbaris for days together and called it Eid-e-Gulabi. Amir Khusro and many Muslim poets have composed beautiful verses on Holi.

Source:  Weaponising The Holi Festival For Communal Polarisation

Courtesy: New Age Islam

The post Mughal Emperors Played Holi And Called It Eid-e-Gulabi appeared first on SabrangIndia.

These groups include the Khilafat Committee in Mumbai, which organises one of the largest Eid-e-Milad processions in the country. The Khilafat Committee procession is always led by a prominent Hindu leader and this tradition has been followed since the time of Khilafat agitation and civil disobedience movement from 1919 to 1923 aimed to achieve freedom from colonial rule. This time the Muslim community leadership demonstrated maturity in modifying their tradition. They might have been nudged by the police to decide, but they did it with grace and in the spirit of accommodation. The leaders also decided to avoid playing loud music in the presence of DJs (often the start of provocations to localities where the processions move through).

Amidst a series of cataclysmic incidents, some prolonged including the violent communally targeted violence as in Manipur, Haryana and the shooting of three Muslims by a RPF Jawan Chetan Singh on train – Chetan Singh, films like “The Kerala Story” and The Kashmir Files”, the Sakal Hindu Samaj rallies calling for social boycott of Muslims, there is also always the everyday, reassuring reality of everyday humanity and compassion. News about humanity and people helping those from other communities, and even saving their lives at the risk to their own lives.

A 32-year-old UP State Road Transport Corporation bus conductor – Mohit Yadav asked the driver of the bus to stop for about two minutes to allow two of his Muslim passengers to offer their namaaz (prayers) on Bareilly-Delhi National Highway on June 3, 2023.  Unfortunately, he was sacked by the Corporation. Burdened with responsibility of his family, he saw no other alternative but to end his life and his body was found on railway tracks on August 28.

((The story does not end there. The family of Mohit Yadav, who took his life as a victim of hatred, has been showered with goodwill from all over the country. A total of 1852 strangers came forward to help the family from many corners of the country who were heartbroken to know about Mohit’s demise. A not insignificant, Rs 26.02 lakhs was collected in three days for the family of Mohit, a contract conductor in Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC), who committed suicide in UP. This young man committed suicide after losing his job due to a cyber attack by supporters of the Sangh Parivar in Uttar Pradesh where religious animosity had taken hold. And it was, Mohammad Zubair, co-founder of Alt News, who launched the crowd-funding drive and announced on Twitter that the amount will be transferred immediately to the family who lost their bread winner—Editors))

In Bakhatgarh village with all of 15 Muslim families in Bathinda District, Punjab, Amandeep Singh, a farmer donated 250 sq. yards of his land for construction of a mosque. Fellow villagers contributed Rs. 2 lakhs and the neighbouring villages contributed cement and bricks. The 15 Muslim families were not allowed to leave their mother land by the villagers at the time of partition.

Likewise, in Jitwal Kalan village in Malerkotla, Jagmel Singh donated 1,200 sq. yards of his land and Rs. 51,000 for a mosque in August 2021. Other villagers collected another Rs. 5 lakhs. Rakhi Jagga’s (2023) article gives several more instances of villagers restoring abandoned mosques in Punjab as the state’s population declined from 40% before partition to 1.9%. In Kashmir valley, there are instances of Muslim villagers helping Pandits to organise their festivals and continue their religious traditions even as they were forced to migrate out of the village during the militancy period.

A Hindu couple solemnised their marriage in a mosque in Alappuzha (Kerala) when the bride’s mother approached the mosque committee for help with the wedding on account of lack of financial resources.

There are numerous other such instances wherein an individual or followers of one religion help followers or another community to fulfil their religious obligations and rituals in spirit of cooperation. There are numerous examples of reaching out and serving those in need but belonging to other religious organisations.

The Sikh langars are open to all irrespective of religion, as are the meals served by the Sufi dargahs. In India with such mind-boggling religious diversity, people routinely participate in each other’s religious festivals. Many religious processions and festivities are jointly organised, including the Sufi urs, sandals and palkhis.

Cooperation is the norm, though increasingly coming under strain in recent times, in spite of the Indian state overzealously guarding sentiments of the majority community and demonstrating extreme tolerance towards hate speeches and crimes targeting other religious communities.

Peaceful co-existence

Why and when do people belonging to different religions or communities cooperate with each other and when they can be led to hate the other?

In any community, there are tendencies to practice one’s religion with orthodox zeal, exclusively, and degrees of exceptionalism. Such tendency partly comes from the notion of purity and pollution, emphasising accuracy in practices, rituals, worship, food and dress prescriptions, appearance and relating to other human beings. They aspire to gain religious merits by adhering to rituals and way of life as practiced by the previous generations and prescribed by their religious priesthood and cultural gate-keepers.

Such tendencies that exist in all religious communities resist any change or adoption of newer approaches and are at times deeply insecure about external influences, preferring to isolate themselves from others. They desire to live within their own sects to be able to live their orthodox practices. Such tendencies may peacefully co-exist with other communities and all they want is to be left alone. However, the younger generation of the community that has been through the educational process may not share the same desires and that may create dynamics for change from within. This is not our subject in this article.

Helping a human being in need, especially when they are in dire conditions, or victims of unfortunate circumstances and devoid of ability to come out of those circumstances comes almost naturally and spontaneously. The religion of the person who needs help does not matter. The needy person may even belong to the community one distrusts and dislikes. What matters more is the cry or appeal – explicit or implicit – of the person who needs help. It invokes empathy in us. We want to be helped when in similar circumstances.

Take e.g., when there was a cloudburst on July 26, 2005 in Mumbai and thousands of people were stranded in offices or on roads without mobile connectivity, electricity, food and means of transport to reach home or let their loved ones know that they are safe and on their way. Many of those who in normal circumstances were attitudinally at war with a certain community, were helping the stranded members of that community offering them food, water, transport, and even overnight shelter wherever necessary and possible. Communal organisations are often first to reach natural disaster sites and offer their services to stranded people.

During the earthquake on January 26, 2001 in Kutch, the RSS as well as Jamaat-e-Islami were extending their immediate relief services also to members of other communities, especially in saving lives and pulling out stranded victims from under the rubble. Likewise, when there is an accident on the road, people who witnessed the accident rush immediately to help the victim without his/her religion mattering. The iconic picture of Qutubuddin Ansari appealing with folded hands and fear on his face to be spared during communal riots in Gujarat in February 2002 was after all spared by the rioters who were killing and raping other Muslims.

Normally a person would help any needy without regards to that person’s religion, culture, or other personal beliefs. That is why Muslim beggars beg invoking the name of Allah and do not experience discrimination in receiving alms, in spite of growing communal polarisation.

People who have internalised communal attitudes see evil, or a potential challenger to their religion or culture if the needy person belongs to their rival community. Such a conscious or subconscious perception may hold back their helping hand. Some people may have more than a natural tendency to help the needy. They may have an ideological commitment to help those who are discriminated against, or marginalised.

A committed secular person who is convinced that a certain minority community is targeted for political and ideological reasons, may go out of the way to express solidarity with them. Such a commitment is more than only help, but sort of a resistance to the communal ideology they disagree with. That solidarity is resistance to the ideological “othering” of the community.

We also have communities that are more prone to helping and serving others. Service to the needy as a religious mission and religious duty. Swami Vivekanand gave the axiom of “Daridra Narayan” – piety in service to the needy. To Mother Teresa, bringing and serving the discarded leprosy patients to her ashram was part of her religious life, which was carried on by the Missionaries of Charity order even today.

Many Sufi orders also serve the needy in various ways. Sikh community has langars as part of their religious practice, where persons belonging to all religions can eat. During Covid-19 pandemic, when the Covid patients were dying from a shortage of oxygen cylinders, Sikh community reinvented their concept of langar and were extending it to “oxygen langars”, providing oxygen cylinders to the patients.

Mahatma Gandhi wanted people of India to be based on empathy for all, particularly the most marginalised and indeed, all oppressed and colonised people in the world. The concept of karuna or compassion in Jainism and Buddhism crosses religious and all cultural boundaries and sees only sufferings to be redressed. Such religious practices build communities based on inclusion, compassion, and empathy. There is a vision of common future for all rather than fragmenting humanity into sectarian communities based on religious doctrines and emphasising and making essential cultural differences and constructing unsurmountable boundaries.

Mahatma Gandhi’s talisman was “antyoday” – upliftment of the last person and the most marginalised in the society – irrespective of her community. Helping the needy as a collective mission and raison d’etre comes more naturally to those who are inspired by and follow the service mission associated with religions. Such a nation would be welcoming refugees from other countries who have escaped intolerable oppression and managed to save their lives. They see no evil in any person just because they are following other religions or are from other countries. Propaganda of hatred against any community does not touch them.

One of the reasons why people who internalise hatred against another community and have violent attitudes, is because they feel their religion or culture is superior and draw immense pride in their superiority. There is a whole army of cultural entrepreneurs who fill them up with pride and make them feel superior, inventing an imagined golden and glorious past, and draw their claims from religious scriptures, and beliefs. Videos, electronic media, social and print media are used to build brand value for their “superior” culture or religion. In an otherwise miserable life, feeling of superiority acts like an elixir giving one a high and a good feel.

However, in a democracy, given a multi-religious and multicultural society, others too have a right to claim their superiority rejecting those of yours. The claim and feeling of superiority therefore needs coercive power of the state, media and institutional network to continuously sustain one’s claim over others.

Superiority may be claimed on merits of one’s religion or on invented/exaggerated demerits of “rival” religions. While the conflict entrepreneurs, like those who get elected to the positions of authority, or those who control print and electronic media and institutional networks laugh all their way to the banks, the consumer of elixir of superiority and those who internalise hatred get a high of belonging to a superior and nurture a commitment to a strong community. The only way to sustain the feeling of superiority is by being hegemonic and/or expansionist, claiming privileges on one ground or the other, including a certain territory being the natural and only home of the community.

With a constant threat to the hegemonic / expansionist project emanating from the “rivals”, they are perceived as demons or enemies who need not exist or must be expelled out of one’s legitimate territory. They are perceived as intruders and disrupters to one’s communal / religious life. It is from this that hatred emanates. The conflict entrepreneurs create fear and paranoia of being overwhelmed by the rival. In this state, any propaganda against the “rival” community is easily internalised and forwarded to others. The propaganda may be in the nature of provoking the rivals, chastising them, dehumanising them, and even using the worst form of violence. In this “war” with the “rivals”, strong unity and total and blind commitment towards one’s community becomes an ardent need. Those who have very violent attitudes towards rival community members may be very selflessly serving and humane towards members of their own community.

No amount of debunking the propaganda of cultural entrepreneurs by producing facts succeeds in convincing those who need the elixir of pride and superiority. Those facts are not believed and will not be believed.

The Peace Project needs to find out ways to evoke empathy and to build communities based on empathy. If those who have been inflicted with the elixir of pride and superiority can be made to see that those whom they consider their rivals and fear being overwhelmed by them are actually victims and humans with all the strengths and weaknesses just like other human beings.

“Mere Ghar Aake Toh Dekho” is one such campaign that has the potential wherein people are encouraged to visit each other’s home and see for themselves how the “others” live and what problems and challenges they face.

Centre for Study of Society and Secularism organises diversity walks to familiarise the participants to explore how culturally diverse all religious communities are. Both these campaigns are efforts to build inclusive communities based on empathy and karuna.

Citizens for Justice and Peace (cjp.org.in), apart from its consistent ‘Education for a Plural India Programme-KHOJ’ also organises regular workshops on dialogue and listening between castes, genders an communities as part of our Peace-Building Programme.

Related:

All religions gather for peace march in Malad-Malwani in Mumbai

PEACE organises a movement for “saving the nation” in Nagpur

The post Give & take, Muslims offer cooperation and understanding: Ganesh Chaturthi & Eid-e-Milad: 2023 appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Pakistan’s care taker Prime Minister Anwaar ul-Haq Kakar condemned the vandalism and warned of stern action against those who violate law and target the Christian minority. The National Commission for Human Rights, a government body in Pakistan described the violence as “sad and shameful”. The heinous act on the part of Muslim religious extremist vandalising the churches and homes of poor, marginalised, helpless and innocent Christians must be condemned in strongest words by all right thinking and law-abiding persons.

Not just Christians, but many Muslims also have been accused of blasphemy and lynched to death. Governor of Punjab – Salman Taseer was killed by his body guard after he called for release of Asiya Bibi, a Christian farm worker who was acquitted of the charges of blasphemy by the Supreme Court of Pakistan and spared from the noose. There was a global campaign for release of Asiya Bibi, who refused to drink water offered by two Muslim women. Days later she was accused of blasphemy. Mashail Khan, a student, was lynched to death for being an atheist. 74 people have been killed by mobs since the year 1990. From 1967 to 2014, over 1,300 people have been accused of blasphemy, with Muslims constituting most of those accused.

Through the 1980 amendment to the Pakistani Penal Code, section 298-A was introduced, which made it a punishable offence to defile “by words, either spoken or written, or by visible representation, or by any imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly”, the sacred name of any wife of the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him), or his companions or the rightly guided Caliphs.

The 1984 amendment targeted the Ahmadi community and criminalised the acts of them referring to any other person except Prophet Muhammad and his companions as Ameer-ul-Mumineen or Khilafat-ul-Mumineen or any other person other than a wife of Prophet Muhammad as Ummul-Mumineen, and any person other than family members of Prophet Muhammad as Ahle-bait.

In other words, no other person can be revered and accorded same degree of sacredness and status as Prophet Muhammad and his family members by the Ahmadi community. This provision directly obstructed the freedom of the Ahmadi community to believe that the founder of their community Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908) is the Mahdi (Guided One) and the Messiah expected by Muslims to come at the end of times and bring about the final triumph of Islam.

The blasphemy law was made even more stringent in 1986 by introducing Section 295-C which makes defiling the sacred name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) punishable by death. Death is a minimum and the only punishment and the trial should be conducted only by a Muslim Judge.

The definition of defiling was not provided for such a severe punishment and the act of defiling was made very inclusive, “by words, either spoken or written, or by visible representation, or by any imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly”.

The more that the law was made stringent, more accusations were levelled. At least 1,855 people have been charged under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws between 1987 and February 2021.

Though there have been no judicial executions under the blasphemy provisions of the Pakistani Penal Code, stringent provisions encourage the religious extremists to carry out extra-judicial executions through street vigilante acts and lynchings, with the vigilantes acting as the judge, jury, and prosecutor. Between 1947 to 2021, (74 years) vigilantes have killed 89 people, including the Governor of Punjab Province – Salman Taseer, the Minister of Minorities – Shahbaz Bhatti, a High Court judge – Arif Iqbal Bhatti – in his chambers.

The blasphemy laws have enabled the rise of right-wing Islamist parties which compete with each other to defend the stringent provisions and they grow in strength with every frivolous accusation of blasphemy, particularly targeting the Christians, Ahmadis and other minorities that are often levelled out of personal vendetta.

To revive the fear of God, affection to the Islamic Prophet Mohammed and service to people with particular emphasis on government officials and cabinet members was one of the 15 points in the manifesto of the Muttahida Majili-e-Amal party. The Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), a far-right organisation, calls for blasphemers to be beheaded. The rise of TLP has seen an increase in filing of blasphemy cases.

Religion in South Asia has served as a far stronger mobilisation tool in the long run rather than any other cultural unifying factor like ethnicity, language, civic nationalism, or race. During anti-colonial struggle, the idea of freedom and the need to unify people of diverse religions, linguistic groups, and castes, the idea of inclusive civic nationalism and the promise of rights to the marginalised sections of the society had a greater appeal drawing all peoples into the freedom movement.

Mohammed Ali Jinnah succeeded in instilling fear among the Muslim minority of getting overwhelmed by the Hindu majority and that Muslims would be forced to live a subjugated life. Jinnah succeeded in using religion as a unifier.

Language proved to be a unifying factor for the Bengali speaking in the then East Pakistan as they were discriminated. Tamil language served as a rallying force in Sri Lanka against the Sinhala hegemony in the North Eastern region of the country. Language unified the Tamil people to resist the hegemony of Hindi speaking North in India.

With these exceptions, the idea of religion based ethno-nationalism has proved to be a more potent tool. Religion based ethno-nationalism is on the rise in India, and indeed in South Asia. Religion is deeply rooted in the psyche of South Asians and religious establishments are a powerful influence in politics.

Religion is salient in everyday life bringing people together; for some followers, it explains the purpose of life and other existential queries; it is a source of social norms of behaviour, responsibilities, duties and entitlements; it is one of the sources of laws; festivals bring people together for enjoyment and celebrations; parables, epics, narration of stories and shared memories convey the social behavioural norms and ideals of life; it standardises the life cycle rituals from birth to death; it inspires some to render selfless service to the needy; and finally it instils fear of God for deviant behaviour, and expectation of rewards for good behaviour. Religion to some helps overcome alienation by enlarging the notion of self as a social self and defines relations between self and others – often hierarchical relations.

The most important reason for salience of religion in everyday life is that an army of religious preachers have a platform to preach, be in regular touch with large number of followers and interpret the text, converse with them in a language they understand using metaphors that make sense to the people and convince them that their way of life, culture and beliefs are natural and best.

The army of religious preachers standardise the way of life, furnishing some stability and certainty. Existential anxieties and fear of God is a weapon in the hands of the preachers to standardise behaviour of those belonging to the community.

The community must also stand up for those who are in unfortunate circumstances like natural disasters, manmade disasters or economic conditions, despite their conformity with the believers.

The army of gatekeepers of religion make followers of the religion comfortable with their status-quo and their “here and now” existence. The aura of sacredness is essential part of religion to legitimise beliefs. Attack on sacred threatens the whole social existence and can inspire some to sacrifice their life, liberty and property in order to restore the sacred or deter further attacks on the sacred, and to ensure the normal continuity in life.

The deeper the notion of sacred, stronger the sacrifice one can make and more violent the community can become. Laws that seek to “protect” the sacred give legitimacy and a stamp of the ultimate, final and universal truth to the beliefs, beyond any critical examination. It raises the expectation of believers that even non-believers and believers of other religions must accept the sacred nature of their beliefs.

Finally, it legitimises violence on those who do not accept the “universal” idea of sacred. The blasphemy laws become a tool in the hands of the army of preachers and the self-appointed gatekeepers of the religion to establish their hegemony socially and culturally. The blasphemy laws seeking to protect a particular belief ends up privileging one sect or denomination’s beliefs over the others.

Materialism, acquisition of knowledge from multiple secular sources, and pursuit of selfish interests loosens the community bonds and the will to sacrifice for the notion of sacred reduces. In other words, materialism, selfish interests and knowledge from multiple sources increases the levels of tolerance. Materialism in the South Asian societies hasn’t developed as in the global north.

Protection of beliefs does not necessarily protect religion. It may even cause disservice to the religion sought to be protected. Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, and indeed all religions have evolved to serve the people and meet the challenges of the time.

There is humongous diversity of faith and practices within each religion, leading to many denominations, sects and sub-sects. This diversity emerged as the societies developed technologically, gained new knowledge and new ideas emerged.

Some religious establishments adopted and accommodated to the changes, while others resisted. For example, when the telescope of Galileo proved that the earth is moving round the sun rather than the other way round, the beliefs and dogmas preached by the church had to be reconsidered.

If the beliefs and dogmas were protected, there would be no further development of knowledge. It would have been impossible to stop research and development of knowledge in order to protect beliefs and dogmas.

Doors of other religions would open up that did not impede research and knowledge, leading to migration of the believers. When developments in medical science made organ transplantation possible, religious beliefs were confronted with a now problem – were such procedures in consonance with religious beliefs.

If religious beliefs opposed abortions, women needing abortions would migrate out or force a reconsideration of such beliefs. At times religion is protected when beliefs that are not in consonance with the times are revised and reconsidered. Religious beliefs have to march along with the new developments in knowledge.

Blasphemy laws therefore may not be in the interest of religion. Law should not protect beliefs or religion, it should rather protect the right of every person to believe. The former privileges the religious establishment, while the later protects an individual’s right to believe, and therefore strikes a balance between protecting beliefs and evolution of religious ideas, theology and knowledge.

A committed believer does not and must not get disturbed when religious beliefs are attacked or what they hold sacred is violated. They would rely on God to take care of such behaviour.

When a Jewish woman threw dirt at Prophet Mohammed, neither the Holy Prophet nor his companions or believers wanted her to be punished. On the contrary, when one day she did not throw dirt at the Holy Prophet, he inquired about her and found that she was sick. He prayed for her good health.

Similarly, Jesus prayed for forgiving those who crucified him saying they did not know what they were doing. Gandhiji said that he would not kill anyone to save a cow which was sacred for him. He said that he would rather sacrifice his own life to save a cow. Respect for what is sacred to one’s religion by the followers of other religions should come from within and from appreciation of what it means and signifies rather than out of fear of law.

Response to attack on what one holds sacred should be dialogue, and explaining the meaning of what it stands for. Ideas should be fought with ideas and not violence – either by the non-state actors, or even the state. However, any instigation and incitement of violence should be punished in accordance with the law.

Violence by the non-state actors who act on their “hurt sentiments” when what they hold sacred is being attacked, do not defend the religion. They defend their hegemony over the weaker and marginalised sections. They enjoy their power and control over the helpless people. They do not want to instil fear of God, but want the already weaker people to fear them.

Related:

Indian Ulema Must Oppose Anti-Blasphemy Laws

Corporal Punishment for Blasphemy or Apostasy not in line with Quranic Ethos?

The post Blasphemy Laws in Pakistan appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Why is it important to discuss and reflect back on the destruction of the Azizia Madrasa in particular? The Azizia Madrasa is significant in more than one ways. It was a heritage site established in 1910, making it over 110 years old. It holds special salience as it is an important and prestigious centre of learning and education for the Muslim community. The Azizia Madrasa is located over a sprawling three-acre campus. The library of the Madrasa, which had over 4500 books, 250 of them being rare manuscripts which were hand written, was completely gutted in the fire started by a mob comprising over 150 persons who attacked the Madrasa between 5.30pm and 6pm on 31^st March, 2023.

It is imperative and fairly instructive to understand the scale of the damage in the Madrasa which will help reflect on important questions. How was such a massive structure set on fire? Why was this Madrasa targeted in the first place? The Madrasa had a beautiful two storied library and Hall, several classrooms, a computer lab and hostels for the students to reside. The haunting site that the fact-finding team was greeted with, when it visited the Madrasa, was a ruined large hall which was once opulent. The large hall had majestic pillars covered in black soot as was the high roof. The hall had a graceful mezzanine floor which had books and answer sheets in the almirahs. The hall had 10 ceiling fans which were warped from the flames of the fire. The mangled furniture was stacked hopelessly in one of the corners of the hall.  The total height of the grand hall and the mezzanine library is about 20 feet giving it an appearance of aesthetic grandeur.

What did it take to burn down the hall and Library of this scale? Petrol bombs were used to set the madrasa on fire. It is quite obvious that to burn down the hall and library of this size it would take substantial quantity of petrol. How was such large quantity of petrol transported? Surely this is not a spontaneous act. Petrol bombs were planted outside each classroom and the authors saw the signs of soot on the doors of the classrooms. The water pipes in the Madrasa too were cut deliberately so that the fire can’t be put off. The CCTVs were completely burnt. So extensive was the damage that the corridor was filled with a layer of 6 inches of ashes. The roof of the corridors was still black from the soot when the fact-finding team visited the Madrasa. The Library of the Madrasa had 4500 books of philosophy, science, Islamic jurisprudence etc. It included 250 rare books which were handwritten manuscripts and were of great value. It took a ditch four feet deep and 10 feet wide to bury the ashes of these burnt books. One can gauge the intensity of the fire from the uprooted floor in the Hall. The office of the Madrasa was completely burnt and the staff didn’t even have a single chair or table to use. All the valuable records were burnt.

The petrol bombs used to burn the Madrasa and the extent of damage point towards the planned nature of attack. The persistent attempt to destroy the Madrasa also is a testimony to the same. While the Madrasa was attacked on 31^st March, it was also attacked again on 1^st April when a mob came from the back of the complex. It is noteworthy that the administration had imposed a curfew on 31^st March and 1^st April. Ironically, despite the curfew, the Madrasa was attacked again on 1^st April when some miscreants entered the Madrasa from the back and tried to ignite a kerosene stove under a wooden cot. The Hindu Nepali watchman of the Madrasa was beaten up by the mob when he tried to stop them. He was let go when he told them he was a Hindu. This selected targeting of the Madrasa gives away the intention behind the attack. Similar attempts to attack the Madrasa were made in 1981 and 2017 when communal violence engulfed the city.

This draws the focus to the important question that why is the Madrasa a constant target of attacks? The answer is that the Madrasa which symbolizes Muslim culture and knowledge, is attacked with a communal agenda to demonstrate hegemony of the Hindu right wing. As opposed to the popular perception shaped predominantly by communal narratives, the Azizia madrasa is no den of terrorism but recognized as a model madrasa by the state. The Madrasa has been the Markaaz for four surrounding districts. There are programmes run by the Madrasa to spread awareness amongst the students and teachers about the inter-religious approach. It has been recognized by UNESCO for its rich heritage and finds mention by United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).  However, the Hindu right wing targeted the Madrasa in a bid to avenge the alleged burning down of the Nalanda University by Bakhtiyar Khilji in 1197.  This is an oft repeated narrative by the right wing in the region of Bihar Sharif. That Azizia Madrasa is prestigious centre of learning, knowledge and religion contributed to it being a target of vicious attack. This attack which has cost invaluable rare manuscripts and other cultural infrastructure has demoralized the Muslim community and expose its vulnerability in the face of violent ideology that hugely influences the response of the state to such threats of destruction and intimidation.

What struck the fact-finding team when it visited the Madrasa was the teacher was teaching a science lesson on the topic of light in English to a classroom full of girl students. The Madrasa is school to over 500 students, 85% of them girls from first grade to twelfth grade. The Madrasa is salient also because of the number of Muslim girls studying in it. It is generally observed that after communal violence, the mobility and exposure of girls from marginalized communities including to schools is usually restricted out of concerns of safety. However, it was heartening to witness the faith the parents of the girls have reposed in the management of the Madrasa and are sending their daughters back to school which is still in the process of being repaired even after four months of the attack. The team also saw the computer room in the Madrasa and a science lab full of charts of human anatomy and other science topics. Thus, the Madrasa was not an obscure institution catering to only few Muslim students teaching Islam and religious tenets but a centre for education of modern relevant subjects.

That the Madrasa has contributed meaningfully to society and Muslim intelligentsia is evident from the illustrious alumni the Madrasa boasts of.  Some of the alumni included Maulana Abu Salma, who retired as Principal of Madrasa in Agra, Maulana Masood Ali Nadwi, prominent author and writer and Mufti Nizamuddin who retired as Mufti Azam (grand Mufti) in Darul Deoband. Darul Deoband is the prestigious institution for learning of Islam and philosophy. Other alumni include Maulana Abdul Rehman who was the 5^th Amir-e- Shariat (Custodian of Islamic jurisprudence), Maulana Shabnam Kalami, renowned poet who is recipient of various awards from the state and his poetry has been included in Bihar Board syllabus. The alumni also include Dr. M. M Kamal, who retired as Registrar of Veer Kanwar Singh University. These alumni have thus contributed in the sphere of education, religion, culture and literature. Established in 1896 in Patna and later shifted in 1910 to in Bihar Sharif, a historic city in the Nalanda district of Bihar, Madrasa Azizia was built by the philanthropist Bibi Soghra in memory of her husband, Abdul Aziz. Soghra inherited property worth lakhs after her husband’s death and decided to donate it. The Azizia Madrasa was built by Bibi Soghra’s donations. Others include Soghra High School and Soghra College. They are still managed by Soghra Waqf Estate.

The Madrasa symbolized not just knowledge but cultural heritage and social cohesion. The Madrasa has existed for over a century and stands testament to the cordial and peaceful relations between Hindu and Muslims in Bihar Sharif and beyond in the state of Bihar. The team was informed that the relationship between the Madrasa management and the Hindu neighbours have been marked by respect and cooperation.   Madrasa thus posed no threat to state or society. The relations with Hindu neighbours have been cordial and friendly and there is heathy socialization. In fact, fifty percent shops in the Madrasa complex which are about 40 shops are allotted to Hindus.

Despite the centrality and importance of scale that the Azizia embodies, the state and the media didn’t do it any justice. The state’s response has been tardy and inadequate, bordering complicity when the Madrasa was set on fire along with other parts of Bihar Sharif. The fire brigade reached the Madrasa only after midnight though the fire began at around 5.30 pm. The administration was not prompt in responding to the pleas of help from the Imam or other staff of the Madrasa. However, ironically, the administration promptly cleared up the debris and ashes in the property in the wee hours of 1^st April. It appeared like the administration wanted to clear away evidence. The state which surveyed the extensive damage of the Madrasa to the tune of INR 3.42 crores including furniture, almirahs, computers etc. has not released any compensation amount. The state has so far only installed a barbed wire fencing around the Madrasa. The media too didn’t give the kind of coverage the Madrasa of the significance it is deserves. The local and national media trivialized the fire and the damages and it took international media including the BBC to report the extent of damage and severity of the attack on the Madrasa

The management of the Madrasa too pointed out that the Madrasa was targeted for the cultural resources it possessed. The Hindutva narrative that the Nalanda University was destroyed by Bakhtiyar Khilji and that act should be avenged by destroying the Madrasa has been oft repeated. Nalanda University was a giant institution and a great centre of Buddhist learning, philosophy, maths, science. It was at one point headed by the iconic mathematician Aryabhatta. It had students from Korea, China, Turkey and other Eastern and Central parts of Asia studying in the University. The library of Nalanda University was home to massive collection of rare books and wealth of knowledge.

It is not known widely that the attack by Khilji on Nalanda University was not the first time Nalanda University was attacked. It was attacked by the Huns under Mihirkula in the 5th Century, and again sustained severe damages from an invasion of the Gauda king of Bengal, in the 8th Century. Huns came to plunder. The attack by the King of Bengal was the result of a growing antagonism between their Shaivite Hindu sect and the Buddhists at the time. There is no single widely accepted historical reason as to why the University was attacked by Khilji. One of the reasons cited which seems implausible claims that Khilji burnt down the University out of spite after Rahul Shribhadra cured him when the doctors in his own court were unable to. In a fit of rage, Khilji wanted to destroy this centre of knowledge. It is worth noting that when Khilji attacked Nalanda it was already on a decline and ascending into ruins due to violence arising from the rivalry between Hinayana and Mahayana Buddhist sects or their influence by Brahminism. However there is no consensus on any one theory by the historians.

The question, after witnessing this senseless destruction of heritage and centre for learning, that confronts us as civilized society is whether revenge is good enough motivation for burning down an institution like Azizia? Did we want Azizia Madrasa or should we want Azizia Madrasa to go down in history with the same fate as Nalanda University? Should we become another Khilji even if we believe that Khilji burned down Nalanda? Should centres signifying reason, knowledge, culture and social harmony be allowed to be engulfed in flames of hatred and communal venom? And should we be mute spectators to this dance of violence and destruction? If razing down Nalanda University was wrong then burning down Azizia was equally wrong. It is time we judge violence from the lens of justice and not revenge. The focus should shift from destruction to dialogue, from vengeance to understanding. The burning of Azizia Madrasa signifies a larger struggle between preserving cultural heritage, nurturing interfaith harmony, and confronting the destructive force of violence. Beyond the immediate destruction, the incident compels us to address these issues with urgency and empathy before the flames of hatred engulf humanity and knowledge.

Related:

‘Books now, humans later’: An ominous warning for the nation

Hindutva mobs in Bihar run amok, cause loss of Rs. 6 crores

The post Azizia Madrasa: Burning of just a Madrasa or Cultural Genocide? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

On January 2, 2023, nearly half a dozen policemen, including the District Superintendent of Police were injured and a church vandalised after a meeting in which about 2,000 people participated. The meeting was led by the BJP district president Rupsay Salam. An armed mob vandalized the church built on the premises of Vishwa Deepti High School ignoring the counsel of the SP Sadanand Kumar not to indulge in violence (Sikdar, 2023).

 The attacks on Christian vishwasus have escalated since December 9, 2022, close to a month. More than a thousand Christian vishwasus were forcibly evicted from their village as they refused to convert and give up their faith in Christianity. Some of the attacks were documented by a fact-finding team of which this author was a member. The accounts of attacks were detailed in the previous articles of the author. The Town Inspector and the district administration refused to take any action against those who were resorting to violence in order to force the Christians out of their villages. 

They visited the villages, talked to the sarpanch and village elders and merely persuaded them to allow the Christian vishwasus to return. They did not register any FIRs nor initiated any legal proceedings, and advised the Christian vishwasus to give up their faith in order to restore peace.  What drove the state machinery to this unconstitutional stand; to say that only if the vishwasus wanted to give up their chosen faith, would they be welcome to the villages? The administration was a silent spectator. We saw videos of the attack on the church and the police. The police, led by the SP were mute spectators, even though the police were being attacked, and one police personnel was even lifted and wrestled down onto the ground. The mob was using lathis whereas the police are seen just holding their counsel, restrained not aggressive against the violators.. After the attack, the SP held a press conference where he merely said that he was trying to persuade the mob not to be violent. In order not to act against anyone, the SP told the press that he was hit from behind on his head and the mob was leaderless.

Can a violent mob be unprovoked and leaderless, and that too, consisting of normally docile and submissive Adivasis? This defies common sense. The administration appears to be leaderless and lacking in commitment to the rule of law and their duty! The inaction of the administration is emboldening the perpetrators and encouraging them to escalate violence.

When we met the Collector and Addl. SP of Narayanpur district on December 21, (SP was out of the town), they had a similar response. According to them, both parties were wrong! Both could not point out, specifically, any wrong doing on the part of the Christian Vishwasus. They had not indulged in any violence, retaliation, or coercion of any sort. There was no hint of any resistance to coercion from the non-Christian Adivasis. No FIR or even a complaint has been filed by the non-Christian Adivasis suggesting this. 

When we met the sarpanch and other villagers of Chimdi, none of them accused any wrong doing on the part of the Christian vishwasus. They said that the Vishwasus just left the village on their own, although we saw the broken prayer hall built out of mud, bamboo and reeds. It was obvious from this that the Christian vishwasus had not left voluntarily. Although the District Collector and the Addl. SP did not spell out the wrong doing on the part of the Christian Adivasis, their silence spoke louder than their vocal cords – their praying in the Church was “the wrong” that they committed – they had stopped believing in the traditional deities of the Adivasis. This, according to them (impliedly) was the beginning of the entire problem. The Town Inspector had already asked the Adivasis of Chalka village to convert to Hinduism. The approach that both sides “were wrong” allowed the district administration not to do anything even when one side was violating law, breaching peace and using violence and coercion to convert Christian Adivasis. The result of inaction encouraged the perpetrators of violence to scale up violence and coercion, and attack even the police personnel, including the SP of Narayanpur. There is not going to be any peace in the troubled region unless appropriate legal action is taken against the perpetrators. It is beyond our comprehension as to why there is this state of inaction! Is it because of the colour of the Central Government? Or is it that even the Congress led state government desires no action?

Conversion to Hinduism:

In Madamnar village, on December 21, 2022, Bible copies were taken away from the homes of 16 Christians vishwasus families, they were forcibly taken to the village tihad (sacred place), water was sprinkled on them, some rituals were performed, vermillion smeared on their forehead and they were declared to be Hindus. Manglu Koram (40) was one of them. We met him in the indoor stadium refugee camp where he had come to meet other Christian vishwasus and assure them that his faith in Christ was intact, notwithstanding the conversion ritual. In Udidgaon and Putanchandagaon within Benur Police Station, three Christian families in each village were converted likewise. However, by and large the Christian vishwasus have held on to their faith even in the face of hardships and attacks.

Peace in Chiprel village:

It was heartening to know that in spite of the escalating violence against the Christian vishwasus in many villages, in Chiprel village. Pastor Phunu Dugga of India Church Growth Mission, having about 500 to 600 members in Narayanpur explained to us as to why there was peace in the village. There are about 95 homes in the village and about 50% are Christians. The sarpanch of the village is a non-Christian. Initially the non-Christians would oppose the conversions. Conversions in the village started in 2003-4. The Pastor’s wife was beaten up in the year 2008 on account of her faith. There was a police complaint regarding the violence. The effective intervention of the then Town Inspector ensured that there was no violence. Since then there has been no opposition – partly due to fear of the police and partly because their numbers have increased and they are half the village population. Every year, according to Pastor Dugga, five to six families convert to Christianity because of their illness or because they want to give up their drinking habits. There is an even more important factor that has ensured that the social fabric of the village does not rupture. The Christian vishwasus and non-Christians participate in each other’s life cycle events like birth, marriage and death in the village. Both the communities however do not insist on participation of members of the other community in their religious events/activities. The Christians do not participate in worship of village deities and no one holds any grievance about the fact as even they do not insist that non-Christians participate in their religious activities and occasions. Both the communities in the village hold a regular dialogue with each other, and particularly, when issues that have a potential of a conflict, arise. Members from both the communities sit together and thrash out the issue. They have also decided not to listen to “outsiders”. With this understanding between the communities, they have, so to say, insulated their village from violent conflicts and remained peaceful. The Christians extend solidarity to other Christian vishwasus outside their village by contributing towards their relief. However, they cannot go to other villages in solidarity to resist violence in those villages for the fear of reprisals.

Pathways to peace:

All of us should reflect on the state of public health in the region when the Adivasis have to turn to God and faith for healing of their diseases. Turning to God for spiritual healing and well-being is, of course , every individual’s right and never an issue. Bastar region, in fact, all Adivasi inhabited regions need a robust public health system. The perpetrators of violence in Narayanpur and Kondagaon are barking up the wrong tree and using coercive force may not arrest the growing number of conversions to Christianity if the Adivasis feel helpless in the face of diseases. A poor and inaccessible public health system leaves no other option before them. Their faith helps them tide over the hardships and crisis that diseases bring upon them. All Adivasis – Christians and non-Christians need to be mobilised. In the common struggle to strengthen the public health system.

With the violence inflicted upon them, the Christian vishwasus have undergone the trial of their faith by fire. They have become even more firm believers. They find their Adivasi community turning away from them in their moment of crisis, and other Christians extending a helping hand – with relief, legal aid etc. The whole crisis has strengthened the community feeling and fellow feeling with other vishwasus. It is intriguing why other Adivasi organisations that fight for their traditional rights, material well-being and human rights have not intervened in the conflict.

We need laws that make public servants accountable and duty bound to uphold the rule of law, and not act according to their whims and fancies. The State can restore peace by firmly handling the law and order situation according to the standard operating procedures. Building peace and healing the broken relations can then be undertaken after law and order is restored.

The large church establishments have not effectively spoken up for the Christian vishwasus. The Christian vishwasus are hopelessly fragmented into small independent churches – some having membership of as little as 400 and that too from marginalised and resourceless community. The established churches need to empower them through education and enable them to speak for themselves, as well as amplify their voices. The Christian vishwasus need to speak for themselves as well as for common issues with other Adivasis against the marginalization of the entire Adivasi community.

We repeatedly tried to speak to the Congress leaders but there was no response. The Congress party traditionally has had its social base in the Bastar region. Mohan Markam, the MLA from the Congress party is also the PCC Chief. With our best efforts we failed to elicit any response from him. We did not notice their presence during the crisis. The entire conflict is undercutting the Congress party’s base and the Party has no solution to offer. That may be because the Party can neither afford to oppose, what they perceive as majoritarian anti-Christian sentiment for the fear of conceding its base to the BJP, nor can they openly side with the anti-Christian for fear of being branded as a communal party and looking like the BJP. But the inaction and non-intervention also may not help, and concede their base to the BJP. The Congress should work proactively and determine the issues of the region rather than be reactive and let the BJP decide political issues. 

For example, take up the issues of development of the region, implementation of the welfare schemes, education, employment, etc. The Congress leaders could have pro-actively held meetings in the villages to neutralize the communal ideology. They may pay a heavy price for their absence.

We talked to the leaders of the organisations working on the Bahujan ideology – who believe in mobilising the Adivasis, Dalits, OBCs, and minorities for their fair share in the political power as against the Upper-caste, who have a disproportionate hold – Dhantraj Tandon, President of Sarva Anusuchit Jati, Bangaruam Suri of Sarva Adivasi Samaj and Palanram Sahu of Sarva OBC Samaj. The former two blamed the RSS and the Hindu nationalist ideology for the violence. Sahu said the conversions were because of caste system – a known ideological position, which was not true for conversions in the region. All three however looked helpless to intervene and felt that rule of law is the duty of the state.

The original copy has been edited for style and language —Editors 

Also Read

‘Forcible Conversions’ in Narayanpur and Kondagaon districts in Chhattisgarh – Part II

‘Forcible Conversions’ in Narayanpur and Chhattisgarh – Part 1
 

Related:

450 Adivasi church-goers faced boycott, violence in December says Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan report

Anti-Conversion Laws: The trope of forced religious conversions

False allegation of Conversion leads to the continuing Abuse against Christians

The post Forcible Conversions in Narayanpur and Kondagaon districts in Chhattisgarh – Part III appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Hindu ‘nationalists’ have quite successfully propagated that Christians are converting Hindus with either inducements, fraud or through coercion on such a large scale that there would be a demographic imbalance in the population, sooner rather than later. My visit to villages in Narayanpur and Kondagaon in the state of Chhattisgarh as a member of fact-finding team constituted by CSSS, UCF, AIPF and AILAJ showed once again that the shoe fits but on the other foot. It is the Christians who are being subjected to violence, threats and forced displacements if they do not convert to Hindu religion. Some Christians have been converted forcibly, while others who resisted were forced to leave their villages and seek refuge from violence elsewhere.

According to Adv. Sonisingh Jhali, All India People’s Forum, based in Jadalpur and who has been helping the displaced Christian Adivasis, more than one thousand of them have been displaced from their villages. According to the District Collector & Magistrate of Narayanpur, 250 have been displaced from the villages in his district and have sought shelter in an indoor stadium of the district. However, another about 150 persons who have been displaced are in the Kondagaon Panchayat Bhavan, while many have sought refuge in various churches.

We met Ram Poyam (35 years) and 16 others, including 6 children, 8 women and three men, on 22nd December in the Nayapada Church in Pharasgaon. Two children were studying in Standard VII. According to Poyam, a Halba Adivasi, there was a death in their  village – Chalka – on December 9,  for which all the villagers had assembled. The assembled villagers, about one hundred in number, marched towards the homes of Christian Adivasis after the funeral and asked them to convert to Hindu religion. The Adivasis call themselves “vishwasu” (those who have faith in Jesus Christ) and not Christian because, according to them, they have not yet converted to Christianity, in as much as they have not declared themselves to be Christians through an affidavit for the purposes of government records. Those who have filed affidavits are called ‘paper Christians’ as against the term ‘vishwasu’ When the vishwasus refused to give up their faith in Jesus Christ, led by the sarpanch of the village, Sevakram Netam, the villagers heaped abuses and threats on the vishwasus and issued two alternative threats – either face death or leave the village. Besides the sarpanch, they were abused by Chandulal Netam, Samluram Netam, and the traditional leader Jigru. All of them belonged to the Gondwana Samaj, an organisation of Gond Adivasis. One hundred (approximately) villagers stood there surrounding the homes of the 17 vishwasus until they then decided (were forced) to leave. As they left on foot and some on motorbike, they were not allowed to even lock their homes. However, according to the information that the vishwasus have, their homes have not been damaged. They filed a complaint with the police, but no FIR has so far been registered. The Town Inspector (TI) took them to their village to plead with the villagers to allow them to stay in the village. The villagers refused and the TI simply returned, rather tamely, not behoving of an official of the state charged with the duty to maintain law and order and protect rights of all, especially vulnerable citizens.

The Vishwasus would contribute their share for the traditional village festivals but would not partake in the prasad offered to the traditional gods. They otherwise lived their lives as other Adivasis – they lived by collecting tendu leaves, Mahua flowers, fishing, farming their small land holdings. These 17 persons had become vishwasus at different points of time after the year 2015, mostly because they suffered from some “incurable” illness. They believed that they were cured by praying to Lord Jesus. 

Sugri Nag (F-27 years) and her mother Shanwari Nag (60) had come to the Church. Both of them converted, even as their relatives strongly opposed them, as Sugri’s father suffered a paralytic stroke on February 15, 2021. Her father converted too, but Sugri’s brother did not convert. The three of them live in peace with their choices and themselves.

If in Chalka the vishwasus left the village without being physically assaulted, all vishwasus were not as lucky. In Chimdi village, 12 houses of vishwasus were demolished along with their prayer centre. With the obvious inaction of the state, the attacks became more and more violent by the day until, finally, one thousand of them were displaced from nearly 40 villages.

There was one thing common among all the vishwasus we met during our 3-day visit to Narayanpur and Kondagaon, though they belonged to different churches – they would not touch alcohol with a barge pole. Giving up their drinking habits, they could now spend the money saved on this consumption (on an average, Rs. 3,000/- per month) on their education of their children and wearing better clothes. 

The 17 vishwasus of Chalka belong to the “New India Church”. Different villages had different and independent Churches. Independent Church means one pastor centric Church. The pastor of the Church too was from among the Adivasi community not trained in any well-established seminary. The pastor would attend prayer meetings in other towns and would pick up doctrines of faith in those meetings. A confident vishwasu who was a fast learner in the prayer meetings and could gather his own following and had the ability to stand up to the opposition from other villagers would/could become a pastor. The vishwasus themselves faced various challenges in retaining their faith. Becoming a vishwasu not only ‘helped healing of a disease’ and improvement of one’s life by giving up drinking, it also meant developing leadership qualities, having followers and becoming more confident. Normally, Adivasis are forced to live a subdued life in presence of non-Adivasis as they are treated as backward, uncivilized, and what not, even by the administrative machinery of the state. The displaced 17 vishwasus from Chalka village whom we met in Nayapada Church told us that the TI as well as Kondagaon district collector told them that they (the vishwasus) were also ‘at fault’ as they had abandoned their age-old traditions, and that they would not partake ‘prasad’. The TI and the Kondagaon district collector both told them to convert to Hinduism to be able to return to their villages. The vishwasus, however, were firm in their faith and refuse to embrace Hinduism now. They have confronted these mighty powerful officials of the state and told them to take legal action against those who had turned them out of their villages and they would be able to return to their villages. It is their faith that gives them this confidence to stand up to the mighty state officials, to sort of remind them of their duties and assert their faith in the face of opposition from the huge majority within their village. It is because of this that number of Christian vishwasus are growing in these districts and not because some established Church is/are propagating Christianity and seeking conversions – material improvement in their lives by giving up drinking, fellowship with other vishwasus, leadership opportunities as pastors and development of confidence as Lord Jesus resides within them/stands with them. In fact, established churches have completely ignores them. We did not find them coming to their help as they faced eviction from their homes, or speaking up for them. 

Aren’t the Adivasi vishwasus Christian enough or important enough for the established Church to speak up for them? 

(to be continued) 

The original copy has been edited for style and language —Editors 

Also Read

‘Forcible Conversions’ in Narayanpur and Kondagaon districts in Chhattisgarh – Part II

Forcible Conversions in Narayanpur and Kondagaon districts in Chhattisgarh – Part III

Related:

Anti-Conversion Laws: The trope of forced religious conversions

False allegation of Conversion leads to the continuing Abuse against Christians

The post ‘Forcible Conversions’ in Narayanpur and Chhattisgarh – Part 1 appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The Ram Navmi procession passed of peacefully through the road on which Mosque is situated with minor some minor hiccups on April 10, 2022, however, Muslim shops were attacked the next morning. The Muslim community remained peaceful and did not do anything, afraid that doing so was in the interest of peace. There was breach of peace nevertheless, and they are also being arrested and implicated in cases lodged.

Many years ago, CPI (M) leader Com. Asim Sarkar had dared to intervene in a situation of communal violence and stopped it. This time he did not dare, as the youth involved this time would not listen to him. This, in brief, is the story of communal violence in Koderma (Jharkhand).

Hindus and Muslims have lived peacefully in Koderma town with population of about 25,000. There are some mixed as well as segregated colonies. Muslims are about 24% of the town’s population; most of them poor labourers, while there are some are traders as well. Muslims comprise about 15% of the population in the wider Koderma district. Scheduled Castes constitute more than 13% of the population.

The Yadavs have been politically quite an influential caste in Koderma. They constitute 24 to 26% of the population in Koderma. Since Laloo Prasad Yadav cobbled the Muslim Yadav (M-Y) alliance, Koderma has always been peaceful. Koderma always elected Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) candidates until 2014 in Assembly constituency. Annapurna Devi Yadav was elected as RJD candidate in 2005 and 2009. However, the Yadavs are slowly shifting their political loyalty to the BJP. Laloo Prasad brought them to power, but they are shrewd enough to know in which party their future political interests lie. Annapurna Devi Yadav was in RJD till 2019. Sometime in that year she joined the BJP and was elected as an MP from Koderma Lok Sabha Constituency. The BJP has won both – the Koderma Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in 2014 as well as 2019. Eager to mobilise the Yadavs into the BJP, Annapurna Devi is now a minister of state for Education in the Central Government. Dr. Neera Yadav, the MLA from the Koderma Assembly Constituency also belongs to the BJP. With growing influence of BJP in Koderma, the extremist elements in the town are becoming more assertive.

Testimonies of the Survivors

According to Maqsood Alam and his nephew Shahnawaz Raza, Ram Navami procession every year passes through the road on which mosque is situated. Other Muslim informants also agreed that it has been a very old tradition. In fact, every year about 100 persons participate in the procession and as there was never any trouble, it is accompanied by only two constables. Muslims welcome the procession offering them cold drinks, and the procession mutes its DJ music and musical instruments as a mark of respect to the place of worship of Muslims. The procession usually passes through before namaz time, i.e., 4.30 P.M. This year, the settled practices were violated from both sides. There were more about 300-400 persons this year, and most of them were outsiders. The procession arrived near the mosque while prayers were going on. The DJ van stopped just outside the mosque and the loudspeaker was turned in the direction of the mosque and volume increased. Two Muslim youth climbed on the DJ van, however, Sajid Hussain, a respected community leader immediately pulled them back and even slapped them to ensure there was peace. Sajid Hussain informed us that he had to face criticism from some quarters for what he did. Mr. Husain told us that in the melee, he saw a stone landing from somewhere, but it hit no one and just fell on ground unnoticed by most in the procession. SDPO was also accompanying the procession. The DJ music was played for about 10 minutes near the mosques before it proceeded. Sajid Hussain and some elders accompanied the procession till the end to ensure that no untoward incident happens. This year, the Muslims did not offer cold drinks. They explained this saying that it was Ramzan and all Muslims were fasting. According to our informants, Sanjay Balgovind Paswan and Sunny Sahu were particularly aggressive during the procession. Sanjay Paswan is a history-sheeter with previous criminal cases pending against him of kidnapping Kamal Kedia, owner of stone crushing unit.

On April 10, two Hindu youths were arrested in the night. However, the leaders of Hindu community managed to get them released. After the release of those arrested, there were all kind of rumours within both communities of a mob having gathered near mosque or temple and impending attack being worked out. People from both communities were tense. As he was getting phone calls to that effect, Com. Asim called the DC as well as SP to ensure peace and take all precautionary measures.

On April 11, soon after the shops opened, Sanjay Paswan led a mob of more than 50 youth, some from outside the town, to attack the Muslim shops and their owners. They were carrying rods to beat up Muslim shop owners. Among the shops and shop owners beaten up were:

1) Rais Ahmed, a motorcycle mechanic was beaten up and his shop attacked

2) Imtiyaz who sells steel trunks and vessels. He sells wipers and was beaten up with the wiper handles, besides taking away the wipers. He suffered a loss of about 40,000/-

3) Javed @ Babu sells Bags. He was beaten up with rods on his back and spine and was hospitalized. With rods they broke up his showcases

4) Amir’s shoe shop show cases were broken causing damage of upto 30.000/-

5) Aiyar Alam was beaten up and the goods in his furniture shop – SKP Furniture worth Rupees 50,000 to 60,000 were destroyed.

In all, 6 to 7 shops were damaged and shop owners beaten up. Informants blamed Sanjay Paswan, Vicky Sahu and Sunny Sahu for the attacks. The DC and SP came and immediately dispersed the mob without making any arrests. This is when the Muslim shop owners gave complaints to police for damage to their shops.

Traditionally, a day after Ram Navami, and after worshipping Goddess Durga for nine days, on eleventh day, the idol is submerged (called visarjan) in the river. The whole event is run under the leadership of two brothers – Krishna and Vijay Sahi. They collect donations for the whole event from the public. One Hindu informant said that they do not institutionalise and involve others in the event as they want to keep the surplus of the donations to themselves without rendering any accounts to anyone. Both the brothers take charge alternatively and they obtain the permission to organise the worship and visarjan in their individual name. The visarjan was on April 12. Already there were rumors regarding impending attack on temple. Perhaps that may have been a ruse to mobilise more youth for the visarjan procession.

A lot of youth joined the visarjan, although with or without the knowledge and intent of the license holders of the procession. However, in the procession, youth were dancing joyously and chanting slogans abusing Muslims using derogatory terms and some of the worst Hindi expletives, and insulting Muslim women. They cannot be reproduced here. They made a video of their slogans, uploaded it and made it viral on social media. No one can see the video even for a few seconds. Ravish Kumar showed the video in his Primetime show on NDTV after muting the slogans. The state had to take cognisance of the video. State registered an FIR under section 66 of the Information Technology Act and arrested 28 youth. There are reports that they were beaten up in custody. Manoj Kumar Jhunnu, General Secretary of the Ram Navami Nagar Thara Akhada and associated with the RSS did not dispute while talking to us that such abusive slogans were given during the visarjan procession nor did he dispute the authenticity of the video. He merely distanced himself from the procession and disapproved such slogans. Jhunnu also did not have any grievances with the Muslim community regarding their role during the Ram Navami procession.

One Sonu Vishkarma has lodged a complaint against Muslims for objecting to the DJ and obstructing the procession and throwing stones at the procession. Among the accused named in the complaint includes Sajid Hussain, who in fact restrained the Muslim youth. The SDPO was personally present during the procession and claimed that he did not see any stone being thrown at the procession. Muslims did not lodge any complaint, according to them, in the interest of peace, against the organisers of the Ram Navami procession for using DJ which is against the guidelines and carrying swords and canes with them.

On April 13, the SDO called for a peace committee meeting with members of both the communities attending. In the meeting it was decided to bury the hatchet, let bygones be bygones and make a fresh beginning. They also decided to reopen the shops and take a joint peace procession through the town. The SDPO personally praised the patience of the Muslim community and the role of Sajid Hussain in controlling the Muslim youth. 20-25 persons gathered at Gandhi Chowk from both the communities and moved through the main road and market, hailing peace and unity. This initiative greatly reduced the tension between both the communities. Members of both the community were to gather once again near Jama Masjid as peace building measure. According to the Muslim informants, members of Hindu community did not come.

However, on the night of April 13, the police started arresting the Hindu boys who were involved in the visarjan procession and, on the other hand, to ‘balance’ and appear impartial, they began arresting people from the Muslim community as well, and according to the community members, arrested innocent people. Bad enough, but so far so good. However, the manner in which Muslims are being arrested becomes the main trouble from now onwards.

According to the Muslim community members, the police from reserved forces come drunk after midnight from about 1:00 A.M to 2:00 A.M, bang their doors loudly, as if to damage or break, enter their homes with their shoes, often using abusive language and take youth away with them. They damage the electrical fittings in one case, perhaps to give a message and demonstrate their contempt for the community. There are women at home and male police enter terrorising the women in the home. Every night they arrest 4-5 people from the Muslim community. From April 13 onwards, this midnight knock has been terrorising the Muslim community which goes about its daily chores in addition to fasting during the day and tries to catch up some sleep before they wake up for sehri early morning to begin their fasting. Every night they sleep worried about the midnight knock and whether it will be their turn to be arrested that night. They are spending sleepless nights. They broke the locks on Rais Ahmed’s collapsible gates and entered his home. They arrest and start beating them inside the van that carries them to lock-up.

Among those arrested was a handicapped youth. Another person arrested was one Aamil Ayyub, a 12^th standard student studying in Mumbai in Acharya College who had come for vacation and to see his ailing grandfather. His mother was very worried about his future. They actually came to arrest Aamil’s uncle – Hoda. However, as Hoda was not at home, they arrested Aamil and younger brother of Hoda – Afridi. Our informants asked, “What did we do to deserve this midnight knocks? We did not shout any abusive slogans, nor did we make video of such abusive slogan shouting, nor did we upload the video on social media nor made it viral, why are we being targeted?”

If the police wanted to arrest Muslim youth, they could do it during the day time as well. If the police gave a list of persons they want, the Muslim community would ensure that they submit themselves to the police and fight their cases legally. While middle class Muslim youth are being arrested, they are particularly targeting the working-class Muslim colony – Maruawari. The residents are petty daily wage earners. Fearing midnight knocks on their doors, most of them have left the colony and migrated outside the town.

Administration’s version

The team spoke to the Superintendent of Police of Koderma District Mr. Kumar Gaurav and found him to be extremely polite and forthcoming with all the information that he could share with us. According to him, the police teams need to arrest the culprits swiftly and made accountable to the law. Therefore, the police teams are arresting people as and when they can, during the day and during the night if required. Further, he said that the list of wanted people have already been furnished to the leaders of both the communities so that they can ensure surrender of wanted people to the police. The list of wanted people is also available from the court records and those wanted can surrender in court as well with all their legal rights being protected by the court. Further, according to him, the police teams have women personnel as well and are accompanied by a leader of the community as witness to the arrest.

In all, eight cases have been registered, six of them by the police and the rest by members of the community. Arrests are being effected in all the eight cases. The four cases filed by the police are:

1) By the magistrate against the organisers of the Ram Navami procession for violating the guidelines and using the DJ in procession.

2) Against the Muslim community members who obstructed the Ram Navami procession and objected to the DJ.

3) Against the people who were shouting vulgar slogans on April 12 against the Muslim community.

4) Against those who made the video viral an uploaded the video.

5) A case against people of both the communities who spread hatred against the other communities during the procession on 10^th April.

6) A case against those who disobeyed and obstructed the government servants in executing their duties while patrolling and arresting.

Amongst the cases filed by individuals is that of a Hindu procession member against the Muslims for obstructing the rally; one case is of the Muslim shop keepers and according to the SP, the accused kicked the goods kept outside their shops.

The SP was polite and forthcoming with all the information as he and the administration did all that was necessary to prevent the minor scuffle from escalating into a full-fledged riot. The attack on shops by a mob was also handled well by intervening quickly and dispersing the mob. The police also acted against the abusive video and took it down from the websites. It is possible that some lower-level police officials might have misbehaved.

Hope of Peace

Amidst all this, there are signs of hope. Mr. Jhunnu whom we talked to wanted peace in the town. He told us that in his childhood they did not know a Muslim from a Hindu nor were aware of Hindu-Muslim identities. He further told us that there was never any communal trouble in the town. According to him, trouble was caused by a few extremist youth within Hindu community, but there are such elements within Muslim community as well. That appeared to us as unwarranted equation as in this particular incident, no such action or behaviour was visible on the part of any section of Muslim community.

Mr. Jhunnu admitted to the shops had been attacked, however, according to him, just some goods kept outside the shop were kicked around with minor damages. The difference was about the extent of damage. The shop keepers showed us videos of Hindu youth assembling on the road. They also have photographed all their goods thrown on the streets and damage to their shops. From the photographs it does not appear that the damage was minor or mere kicking around goods kept outside the shop.

Mr. Jhunnu was willing to take initiative for peace. Hindus and Muslims, according to him could sit across and talk to remove any misunderstanding. The only obstruction to such an initiative at that moment was arrest of the 28 Hindu youth charged under the IT Act for chanting abusive slogans. The parents of the arrested youth would not let any peace process unless their wards were released. If that case had been filed by Muslims, he could have appealed to withdraw the cases (read: they would be amenable to the pressure from Hindu community to withdraw the cases). However, in the case registered under the IT Act, the complainant is the State. Otherwise, it was possible to restore peace if both sides withdrew the cases they filed and forget everything. There is inequity in this proposition.

Muslim shop keepers have been beaten up and their shops and property destroyed. Whereas the case filed by Hindus has not caused any damage to their property nor any injury. We found it difficult to understand what the complaint could be about and what legal offense has been committed. Two Muslim youth just climbed on their DJ van but pulled back by their elders. Mere withdrawal of cases from both sides would not restore real sustainable peace. It would be merely buying time before another such attack was mounted on another occasion after the attack, once again Muslims would be called upon ‘in the interest of peace’ to forget and not pursue any legal cases. In fact, the Muslims were not interested (read: afraid) in filing complaints naming the disrupters in the first place. The peace that Muslims hoped for was that no violence be inflicted upon them and that they should be left alone to observe and follow their religion and do their work. They were ready accept the hegemony and domination of the violent extremists and therefore they did not file any complaint in the first instance. Peace is their urgent need and they are willing to dispense with justice. Mr. Jhunnu was therefore confident the he would be able to work out peace wherein if the Muslims did not insist upon justice for the damages done to them and violence inflicted upon them, he would propose end to violence for now. Muslims of Koderma were also expected to forgive and forget the choicest abuses heaped upon the women of the community, video graphed those abuses and the video made viral so that the whole world watches Muslims being abused publicly. The problem was that the case was registered by the state. Also, Muslims as a community “miyas” of the whole world were abused in Koderma, and not just Koderma Muslims.

There is often tension between those who desire peace and those who want to pursue justice. In the 2002 riots in Gujarat, the displaced Muslims were told that in the interest of peace, and if they desired to return and stay in their villages, they will have to withdraw the cases that were filed against the rioters who killed them and raped Muslim women. After the Kandhamal riots too, those who pursued peace, they often desired that in the interest of peace all the cases filed against rioters be withdrawn. While those who desired to pursue just for violence against them were perceived as standing against the interest of peace. Seeds of same tensions were visible in Koderma riots too.

We were informed that Sajid Hussain, the leader of Muslim community, was hobnobbing with the BJP. His opinion that no complaint be filed for the violations of the guidelines and the conditions under which the Ram Navami procession was allowed must have weighed on the community. Sajid Hussain ensured peace and event free Ram Navami procession by controlling the Muslim youth who got provoked by the gross violations on the part of Ram Navami procession and even slapped one of them. Controlling any violent reaction from any Muslim youth was the right thing to do at that moment. However, it had to be backed up with non-seeking of justice and not filing any complaint against those violations. However, that didn’t prevent the Hindu protagonists from filing their complaint against the Muslim community members and against Sajid Hussain himself, inviting the midnight knocks on their doors. He was further satisfied with the peace committee meeting and joint march. He did not propose any action even against the abusive video that was made viral. Can there be sustainable peace, and peace in real sense that guarantees non-occurrence of communal violence and non-violation of Constitutional rights without justice?

However, it is also a fact that to expect from the Muslims or their leaders to stand up for justice in this intimidating environment wherein attacks on them are coming fast and from all directions, is asking for a lot. Sajid Hussain’s claims may be to at least ensure or to minimize the physical violence on the members of the community from the extremist and violent section of the Hindu youth by negotiating with Mr. Jhunnu and other such leaders of the Hindu community. For justice and rule of law and Constitutional order to prevail, liberal elements from within the Hindu community will have to take initiative to defend the rights of all citizens, including the Muslim community. For, today it is the Muslim community’s rights that are under threat, in future, rights of Dalits, Adivasis, women and liberals like themselves would also be at stake. A section of Dalits (Sanjay Paswan) already seems to have traded their Constitutional right to equality with feeling of superiority and power over the Muslims, but subject themselves to the traditional authority of those above them in the Hindu caste hierarchy. They control no resources save the feeling of authority over the Muslims.

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The post Koderma: What actually happened on Ram Navami? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

“Ram Navmi was a festival in which we Muslims also participated in our childhood and joined the Ram Navmi procession”, Shabana Ansari, a middle-aged woman told us while attending the customers in her small shop in Hendalso, as we were asking her address of Mujahim Ansari who was injured during a communal riot that accompanied Ram Navmi procession this year in Hirhi Village. Altunissa Khatoon told us that her 5 years old grandson was also dancing in the Ram Navmi procession on April 10, 2022. 

A fact finding committee of Centre for Study of Society and Secularism consisting of Irfan Engineer, it’s director, Ashok Verma, journalist and activist, Afzal Anees, general secretary of United Milli Forum and Ziaullah from the Association for Protection of Civil Rights visited the area to gather first-hand information.

Instead of a memorable Ram Navmi festival in which Hindus and Muslims, both participate, Hindu nationalists have been infiltrating in the festival and misusing it to assert their aggression and power, particularly over the Muslims. “Jai Shri Ram” has become a war cry instead of religious slogan praising Lord Ram and praying for Lord Ram’s victory and desiring Lord Ram’s just rule. Some in the Ram Navmi procession this year were shouting ‘iss desh mein rehna hoge toh jai shri Ram kehna hoga’ (only those who proclaim the glory of Lord Ram can stay in this country). The slogan proclaimed that only Hindus can stay in the country. This war cry results in communal riots in some places.

In Hirhi village (Lohardagga district), where the communal riots on the occasion of Ram Navmi procession began this year, there is only one Hindu family of Mr. Pandey. There are 320 Muslim houses in, only 2 Hindu houses of Pandey family and 10 adivasis houses. Every year the procession stops at Hirhi Village and the Muslims in the village welcome those in the procession, offering them cold drinks as they are guests of the village. Usually there are about one hundred people in the procession and they are in village for about an hour.  As the procession passes the Mosque and kabrastan (Muslim burial ground) in the village, every year drumming stops out of respect. However, this year there were more than a thousand people in the procession. Every year, people from Manhu, Kujra, Hendalso and Purje villages join the Ram Navmi procession. People from Kurse and Hondaga villages joined the rally for the first time this year. They arrived at about 2.30 pm and stayed on for about three hours till 5.30 p.m. The procession stood in front of the Mosque with loud music and dancing for more than one hour. Ram Navmi this year was during Ramzan and the Muslims of the village were fasting. Their iftar (breaking the fast) time was around 6.10 p.m. They were all preparing for iftar. Riyaz Ansari, joint secretary of Lahardagga district Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, told us that he was returning from Lohardagga and greeted those in the procession and shook hands with them. Every year he arranges welcome cold drinks. This year he was in Lohardagga and could not.

Mohammad Ejaz Ansari told the team that some youth in the procession were drunk. They broke the wall of the kabrastan and were throwing beer bottles inside. We did find the kabrastan wall broken but did not find any beer bottles inside the kabrastan. According to Ejaz, 2-3 Muslim boys asked those in procession why were they doing this. They started shouting “Jai Shri Ram” and attacked those boys. Sanaullah was injured and is still in Janata hospital, recoverong. Jalahuddin’s car, an Alto was attacked and its rear screen was broken.  Mohim Ansari and Shamim Ansari’s car were also damaged. Ejaz Ansari opined that there must have been stone throwing from both sides. 34 Muslims have been arrested. According to the villagers, all of them have been falsely charged as all were fasting and in their homes.

Mujahim Ansari (70) told the team that he was preparing to break his fast and he followed the procession as they were proceeding towards the Mosque. There was a melee and he was suddenly attacked with sword. They aimed at his neck but he tried to block the attack with his hand and took the blow on his left palm. Two fingers are just hanging on incapacitated. There are nine stitches on his palm. He was hospitalized in Lohardagga hospital. The doctors advised him hospitalization for 21 days. However, he had no money and took discharge and is convalescing at home. He claimed that he had already incurred expense of more than Rs. 5000/- for his treatment. Being labourer, he could not afford the medical bills. There is a minor contusion on his shoulder and neck. Noorul Ansari was hit on his hand near kabrastan. Ayyub Ansari was also hit on his head. As the procession proceeded, it left a trail of violence along the way, attacking Muslims identified from beard or cap, or otherwise known to the attackers. Tanveer Ansari was hit on his head near the Hendalsa railway station, a couple of hundred metres away from the village, as he was returning. Sanaullah’s nose was cut. From the railway station, the procession proceeded towards the Mela (fair) which is organised as a part of Ram Navmi celebrations. They attacked and burnt down several Muslim shops.

From the Mela, the procession proceeded towards Kujra village. They reached Kujra around 5.45 p.m. Only 3 to 4 Muslim families reside there. All these years they felt as comfortable as the Pandey family in Hirhi. In Kujra, they attacked Mobarak Ansari’s 3 shops and residence, all within one structure. Two were vegetable stores and one was run as a garage by his brother. The shops were completely gutted. Mobarak’s residence has strong iron gates. Mobarak was not in his home when the attack on his shops and home began. Only his fasting wife and children were there. Bricks were thrown and attack was mounted with other equipment. One iron crown on the door broke but the gates sturdily protected the family within.  Mobarak’s Hindu neighbour across the street informed him of the attack and he rushed back from his shopping. Mobarak was attacked on his way home with a sword. He escaped with a minor injury on his crown as he ducked the attack and his mobike’s seat was torn with a sword. His carrots and tomatoes worth Rs. 4 lakhs were damaged and the spare parts in the garage worth 3.5 lakhs were damaged. He could not quantify the damage to his RCC structures. He lodged an FIR with the police and named Sanjay Verma and his son Rahul from Kurse Badka Toli village and Prakash and Prasad Sahu from Hendalso village as accused.

After attacking Mobarak Ansari, the mob proceeded to attack Hashim Ansari and Mujahid Ansari’s shops and homes. Both are brothers. Their shops and homes are within the same structure. Hashim Ansari had rented his shop to Sajjad Ansari, where he vended readymade garments. Mujahid Ansari had rented his shop to Qasim Ansari, a kirana retailer. Mujahid himself runs a bakery from his home. The shops were closed and its iron shutters down for iftar. The shops were completely gutted and damaged. They were attacking the shops and targeting homes for about an hour! According to Hashim Ansari, if the police had come even 5 more minutes later than they did, the mob would have been successful in breaking into their homes and harming their lives. While the attack was going on the shops, Mujahid Ansari hid his kids in one room that they thought was safe, but the smoke from burning shops adjacent choked the kids and he shifted them on roof. However, tones and missiles were thrown on to the roof and the entire family rushed down, injuring his wife as she tumbled from the stairs, into another room. In that room too, smoke from the shop belonging to his brother was choking the kids and they felt very insecure and helpless. As the crowd broke into his home, they looted jewelry worth 3 lakhs and cash of Rs. 1.45 lakhs, both kept as his two daughters were going to be married after Eid.

Meanwhile, Aman Ansari (about 45 years old), handicapped with one leg, along with an escort Wasim Ansari, (about 17 to 18 years old) from Bodha village in Lattehar district were returning after purchasing a second-hand bike in Itki. Then they purchased their medicines in Lohardagga. As they were passing through Bhandara, Wasim called his family and informed that Insha Allah, they would return in time for iftar. However, as they were enroute to Bodha, their bike was stopped as Aman had a Muslim beard and cap. They had nothing to do with whatever happened in Hirhi village with the Ram Navmi procession. Both of them were beaten badly. Aman with sever sword injuries on his head, face and all over his body died on the spot. His hands were cut in three places according to his maternal uncle Akhtar Ansari and other villagers. Aman is survived by his wife and 5 children – 4 daughters and one son, the youngest being only 10 months old. His body was untraceable for several hours and ultimately found in a nullah. Wasim is recuperating in Ranchi Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), seriously battling for his life. Aman and Wasim, both are labourers doing even sewerage work if that was available. Aman vended ice-creams in summer on a small mobile cart. The lives of all children are in the dark now with no help from the government so far. Although compensation of Rs. five lakhs has been announced by the chief minister. Hindus and Muslims in Bodha village and surrounding areas have a very good relationship even after the incident. There is no Hindu marriage without all Muslims in the village being invited and vice versa. There is no funeral of a Muslim without participation of Hindus and vice versa. Akhtar Ansari told us in categorical terms that if for some reason Hindus cannot participate in a Muslim marriage on a particular day, the marriage itself will be cancelled and fixed on another day. Hindus were first to gather for Aman’s funeral as well. The state fearing a possible backlash had ordered a lockdown of the villagers in Bodha from April 11 morning, the day after Aman’s brutal murder, until completion of his funeral on April 12.

The team had several questions about the handling of the procession and the riots that ensued. Ram Navmi processions were allowed subject to 36 conditions that had to be followed. Most processions followed most of these 36 conditions in breach. How were swords and weapons allowed in the procession? When one of the conditions was that no more than 100 people could be in the procession, how come more than a thousand people were allowed in the procession? The procession was for more than three hours in Hirhi itself. Was the procession video graphed by the police, as is the rule?  If the violations of the conditions were noticed, were they reported to the police officers above? If not, which police officer was negligent in his duties? What action has been or will be taken against the delinquent officer concerned? How come the mischievous and politically driven elements in the procession had field day and could do as they wished for over three to four hours? Therefore we met R. Ram Kumar, SP of Lohardagga.

The SP’s first aggressive question to us was, “what fact finding you are doing, what is fact finding?” We briefly reported the situation as we had learnt on ground and the questions we had in our mind. The SP was just dismissive and gave us very generalised vague answers, in fact refusing to answer our queries. The sum total of his response was that the District Commissioner and himself were on the spot as soon as they heard about the violence, and that a Special Investigation Team has been constituted and the cases are under investigation. That 18 cases had been filed. He refused to answer any other question on the ground that cases are under investigation.

Although violence broke out in Hirhi-Kujra villages in Lohardagga, this was not the only place where extreme provocation and aggression in the Ram Navmi processions was displayed by the Hindu nationalist with political objectives. This was one place, that is, in Hirhi-Kujra, that they got the aggressive outcome they desired.  In other words, the Hindu nationalists might have infiltrated into many other Ram Navmi processions, displayed the aggression, tried to provoke a reaction from some Muslim individual/s and not succeeded. The Hindu nationalists have to succeed only in one place, and more than one success is welcome, to make media headlines with their desired narrative of ‘anti-national and aggressive Muslims’ who disrespect and desecrate Lord Ram, and that they should be hated.

They also want to demonstrate the prowess of Hindu nationalists who are more than capable of meeting the ‘Muslim challenge’ and teaching them a lesson. Their aggression and violence is also a message to the police and the state that the Hindu nationalists would not obey any laws that put any restrictions and limitations on them, whereas they were capable of compelling the state to impose severe limitations and restrictions on the freedom of religion of Muslims and Christians. That the state should defacto, and if possible de jure accept the privileges of the culture and political ideology of the Hindu nationalists. There is no Constitution or rule of law that they would follow. Hindu nationalism is their Constitution. This was clear from our meeting with Dainik Bhaskar reporter Samid Ansari, also working with Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti, and other villagers Kairo, enroute to Hirhi.

In Kairo there is a tradition of organizing Bharat Milap rally the day after Ram Navmi. Bharat Milap was stopped in 1984-85 because of its communal narrative, polarization and politicisation. However, 12 years ago the rally was permitted once again. On Ram Navmi, there was a procession in front of the Mosque from 7.00 p.m. to 7.52 p.m. For this entire time, there were provocative slogans: ‘iss desh mein rehna hoga toh jai Shri Ram kehna hoga’, loud drums and dancing. The district administration ultimately succeeded in persuading the rally to proceed further. Muslims were thankfully did not get provoked and kept their patience for that long. Next day there was Bharat Milap rally and the same thing was repeated. 

The team also saw a positive side – the divisive elements did not succeed in provoking violence and in communally polarising in spite of infiltrating into scores and even hundreds of religious processions and using that as a cover to achieve their objectives. However, that is not enough. The forces of humanism, communal harmony, peace and those who value rule of law and secularism will have to bring this down to nil, a big zero. Indian civil society needs to take up that challenge. To counter the hatred of Hindu nationalists with love and humanism.

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